Features

Chorley 0 PNE 2: With Gallery

Posted:
Tue 16 Jul 2013
Author: @pnefc

1 of

North End took the honours in the Jack Kirkland Trophy with a 2-0 win at Victory Park.

Graham Cummins scored the opening goal in an entertaining game just before half hour mark finishing off a sweeping move that was started by skipper John Welsh back on the edge of his own box, finished off by the Irishman eight yards out.

Joel Byrom then put the icing on the cake with virtually the last kick of the game with a beautifully curled free kick into the top left hand corner from 20 yards out.

North End had showed plenty of positive signs from the early stages, Humphrey – who had impressed against Liverpool – again looked sharp on the right, with Holmes on the other flank looking equally as effective.

The Lilywhites could have gone ahead as early as the second minute, Iain Hume seeing an effort saved by Ashton in the home goal after a through ball from Lee Holmes.

Summer capture Humphrey showed a clean pair of heels to young full back Mather on more than one occasion and on eight minutes his blistering speed took him inside him man only for Ashton to get a strong hand and direct the ball away.

The Jamaican No.7 kept coming through and nine minutes in was even closer as this time he cut in onto his left foot and drilled a shot just inches wide into the side netting.

On the quarter hour mark some lovely play from Lee Holmes saw the former Southampton man slide the ball through to Graham Cummins, who found space in a right hand channel, but his effort was wide of the right hand post.

Three minutes later it was Cummins again, this time set up by Wroe, and he curled an effort from the left hand corner of the box just over the right hand corner.

After a quieter spell, on 25 minutes, North End broke after a mix up at the back and raced clear; Nicky Wroe ran 70 yards, having three men with him, but fired from 20 yards out, forcing the keeper into a fine low save at the second attempt.

The deadlock was broken on 29 minutes. John Welsh pinged a long ball from the back into the Chorley right back position where Iain Hume raced onto it and perfectly weighted the ball across for Graham Cummins to bury the ball from eight yards out off the underside of the bar.

Five minutes later Simon Grayson’s men had two great chances in a minute, Wroe’s free kick from the left corner of the box was saved by the keeper and then the ball came out to Hume whose half volley from the edge of the ‘D’ smashed off the bar and over.

Just after the hour mark a swathe of substitutions for both sides and Beavon and Garner linked up well in the 69th minute, the latter firing over from 15 yards after the No.10's ball from the right.

A worrying sign with 13 minutes to go when a very late tackle on Stuart Beavon saw the front man helped from the field, North End playing the remainder of the game with then men.

A brace of corners followed the resulting free kick, with Tom Clarke heading the second from Joel Byrom's deep back just past the left hand post.

Joe Garner continued to look dangerous up front and headed just over from Tom Clarke's cross on a quick counter by the visitors with five minutes left.

A free kick on the edge of the 'D' on 87 minutes, after Chris Beardsley had been upended, was curled beautifully around the wall with his left foot, but it crashed off the inside of the left hand post across the goal line and away.

Into the final minute and Joe Garner was viciously dumped to the floor on the egde of the Chorley box with the referee no choice but to give a second yellow card of the night. This time the ball was in a right hand channel, but again it was Byrom and this time there was no stopping the strike as he curled it over the wall into the top left hand corner.